


Angel de la Muerte

by SilvertonguedClotpole



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Do Not Copy or Use on Another Site, Don't copy to another site, Family Feels, Fights, Hurt/Comfort, It's Klaus. So...Y'know., Post-Apocalypse, Temporary Character Death, The Commission, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23686477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilvertonguedClotpole/pseuds/SilvertonguedClotpole
Summary: "It could have been beautiful...the way his curls fanned out a little and surrounded his head...his eyes were closed but his mouth seemed to curl up a little with small kisses at the corners..and the green and gold of the curtain’s design stood out in stark contrast to the white tiles beneath and made their brother look regal, important, ethereal."The Academy is attacked (again!) but not every Hargreeves makes it out in one piece. The tragedy opens the siblings' eyes in more ways than one; Their brother, the angel of death.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 371





	Angel de la Muerte

**Author's Note:**

> I want to say that this whole 'lockdown' malarkey has helped me be productive like a lot of other people but the truth is, it hasn't. I currently don't have a job as my role isn't a key worker and my days are spent trying to stay positive- work stresses me out, but not having work makes me unmotivated so I can't win. Anyway, I started this before the lockdown on a random day of productivity and I finally finished it a day ago. So here we are, it's not perfect and it's a plot that's been done many times before but I just wanted to add another and the idea of the image (I won't spoil it, though it's maybe pretty obvious) popped into my head and wouldn't leave. I'd say it's pretty obvious to figure out a timeline but to put it simply, it's post s1 finale, I guess I've just made it a typical time jump to a fixed point without the destruction of the apocalypse.  
> No beta, any mistakes are mine, and no copyright blah blah. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

It was at times like this that Klaus seriously questioned the security of the place they supposedly called home, given that this was their second major break in in less than 2 months. Or, was it technically more given their jump through time!? Who knew? Maybe Five!

First it had been Hazel and ChaCha, their huge personalities intruding on the Hargreeves' semi peaceful tranquility, attacking them in their own home and managing to best them for the most part. They had kidnapped Klaus himself and somehow been able to overcome even Luther.

And now it was some more Commission rats sent by their masters-who were clearly too afraid to fight the Academy on their own, Klaus would like to point out! They were trained just as Hazel and ChaCha had been and Five didn’t seem to recognise them, a worry that showed very clearly on their 'little' brother’s face.

_“If I don’t know them, they could be new! But with a lot more information and training than I’m aware of, future Commission intellects may be more in the know so...” Diego had shushed the smaller brother, half out of annoyance and half out of his own anxiety and not wanting to know how The Commission could use their knowledge against them. They’d seen enough of what these people could, and would, do._

It did in fact seem that these were the new prototypes, the next generation, because they were biblical! There was two of them, just as before, but this time there were 7 near fully powered Hargreeves working together, it should have been a literal piece of damn cake!

Alas. It could never be that simple for the Umbrella Academy now could it?!

They were stronger than Luther, quicker than Five, just as precise as Diego and just as crazy as Klaus. Somehow they were reckless and lucky all in one.

In moments, they had the Hargreeves on their backs.

They had made their way onto the mezzanine floor above the lobby whilst trying to outrun and duck and dive their attackers, and it quickly became too much to keep up with. Klaus would watch two siblings almost take down ‘Rat A', only for them to be thrown off and dazed before 'Rat B' was disarmed and trapped beneath a bookcase by Luther and Vanya- yes! _With_ Vanya's powers! He could only watch for a large portion, occasionally throwing a chair or clawing wildly in the general direction of a bad guy given that his abilities were still a little sporadic and he most definitely wasn’t going to be jumping on anyone else’s back for the foreseeable future! But there was a short window where his powers kicked in, call it adrenaline or fear or whatever, but there stood Ben in that beautiful blue glow that Klaus swore he could feel deep down to his core. Now it was 7 siblings to 1 bad rat!

“Hey loser!” Diego yelled, throwing a knife at the assassin’s leg.

Allison scoffed, her recovering voice just clear enough to be heard. “Loser? That’s all you’ve got?”

“Oh I’m sorry, do I drop a superhero grade because of poor insult skills?”

“D! I’ve heard you badmouth bro, and that was not it!” Klaus was beginning to tremble as Ben’s form shimmered slightly in front of them, the 'high' wearing off and his powers diminishing.

Diego turned to argue back but a noise from behind them took precedence. The crash of the bookcase was nothing compared to the blast of energy that hit the ceiling afterward.

They stood stock still. “What. The fuck. Was that?” Klaus emphasised his panic through humour, as only he did best.

“Not a fucking clue!” Was Diego’s reply.

Five chimed in. “Some form of energy blast. I’m guessing from that fucking metal fist he’s suddenly grown!”

Sure enough, like something out of a comic (ha!), Rat B now had a mechanical glove over his hand which seemed to hum and glow with energy. When he shot it again a wave pulsated out, flying past the siblings and into a marble bust on the wall behind them. The Rats grinned, sneered, at the surprise on the siblings faces.

“Well shit.” A now invisible Ben muttered, to which Klaus highly agreed with.

The fight took off once again, with limbs flying everywhere and blasts of energy from both the assassin’s hand and Vanya's vicinity. Five jumped all around and Diego threw knives. Allison perfected her fighting skills and put them into practice. Luther threw the attackers on their backs and hit them over the head with fallen plaster or furniture.

And then it happened. All so quickly.

A curtain wrapped itself around Klaus, binding his flailing limbs in place and rendering him unsteady. Rat A had swaddled him in the material, leaving him to trip and dismiss himself from the fight. But Rat A underestimated him, he was always gangly and unsteady on his feet, and it was something he could take pride in at how he could still somehow manage to right his balance. So when he had almost untangled himself, planning on using a similar technique in retaliation, the hit came with no warning at all.

Energy, so very much like Vanya's, threw him backward. It launched him through the banister of the landing and out into the open space of the entrance hall. Shock took over in an instant and all he was aware of was the ceiling getting further away and the room rushing around him.

Distantly he heard a yell.

And then.

Nothing.

* * *

Ben could feel Klaus' energy levels drop beyond what he was capable of sustaining and he knew he would soon vanish from his siblings' view, unable to assist them any longer. He hated how he would have to leave them mid fight, but knew that there was Klaus to worry about too- he would _never_ force his brother to push himself, not like this. And so once the energy dropped, he stood by and watched the fight progress. He saw the initial blast that threw the bookcase into the air, flying even higher and hitting the ceiling. It wasn’t like a ray of power, more a strange wave that you could only just see in the air like some iridescent shimmer. It thrummed like energy though, with even a hint of a Tesla Coil radiating through it. He heard his siblings react too, bickering when this really wasn’t the right time. It flies out again, just ghosting past him and into the space behind him.

“Well shit.” He said, hearing Klaus' nervous laughter in response, before being plunged back into the midst of another tussle. The fight kicked off again and he was once again left trying to keep an eye on each of his siblings. Occasionally he would try to warn Luther about his exposed back, or shout to Allison about kicking higher for more impact, but he would then remember they couldn’t hear him and he was wasting his 'breath'. He saw one of the attackers run at Klaus with a ripped curtain, wrapping him like some twisted mummy impression and leaving him to stumble and sway.

In all honesty, he didn’t worry, he’d seen Klaus in a similar situation before, butt naked and wrapped in a bed sheet. Shuddering, he turned to watch the other activities. He saw the guy with the energy glove raise his hand in Vanya's direction and screamed at her to turn around. She was holding her own bubble of energy and trying to control it enough to expel the other attacker.

She was completely unaware.

But. It turns out, it didn’t matter. The blast of energy shot toward her flowing through the air like some ethereal river, but instead of hitting her body, it hit the equally powerful bubble encasing her. She reacted to it, though only as if it were a tickle at her back, and it was too late. One blast ricocheted off another, bouncing off at an angle and flying away again.

Into Klaus.

His brother was just about upright and untangled when he was forced back, Ben watching as the wooden banister splintered as his body hit and allowed him to carry on to the space beyond. Ben yelled out in shock and was about to run toward the same piece of banister when he felt his entire 'being' ripple. He’d felt it before. Many times in the past, but nothing too extreme, and once again recently.

And he knew.

He knew!

Klaus was dead.

* * *

Luther saw Klaus go over. He saw the way the banister fell away with him as he flew back with material and wood floating around him. But they had to carry on, they couldn’t stop yet. The two attackers were still on them, though definitely weakening. He saw Vanya waver, a foot toward where their brother had disappeared before fighting herself and helping the dwindling fight. Rage and fury stampeded through the group with fresh vigour and each one pushed themselves harder to end this. Now. Diego’s knife now aimed to kill, Vanya didn’t hold back, and even Allison tried to project her voice enough to rumour these people- after swearing not to rumour ever again!

Eventually one fighter went down and the second crouched beside them like a deer in headlights before lunging for their briefcase and disappearing in a flash of blinding light.

“Don’t let your guards down! They may be back.” Five was breathing heavy but still managed to have that official domineering tone that grated on them so much.

Luther probably would have argued or questioned what the hell had just happened but his attention was drawn to Vanya racing toward the banister.

He didn’t want her to see what was down there. She didn’t deserve to be the one to find him.

Sadly though.

Vanya reached what was left of the decorative wooden carving and looked down.

And screamed.

There was no energy that radiated from her yet somehow that was more terrifying than if there had been. This was raw emotion. Raw pain.

Just a sibling screaming out for their loved one.

The Hargreeves siblings rushed to join her and took breaths before looking down.

A ripple ran through them.

As they looked down they could see Klaus, sprawled on the tiled floor with his arms spread beside him. One leg straight out in line with his body and the other bent at the knee, foot touching the opposite leg. It didn’t look painful.

The blood would suggest otherwise, though.

The rest of him painted a strange picture. Almost beautiful in its morbidity. For as he lay, with his arms outstretched and the material of the curtain spread behind him, he looked the image of an angel.

An angel with a bloody halo.

It could have been beautiful, the way Klaus looked calm and at peace far beyond what he ever could in life. The way his now longer curls fanned out a little and surrounded his head (before the blood beyond did the same) and gave him a cherub feature. His eyes were closed but his mouth seemed to curl up a little with small kisses at the corners, making him seem to be smiling. His 'Hello' 'Goodbye' tattoos were facing up like some sick contrast but still portraying Klaus’ famous balance of life and death, embracing the good whilst taking the bad. Living as some big FUCK YOU to whoever needed it most- God, Reginald? The green and gold of the curtain’s design stood out in stark contrast to the white tiles beneath and made their brother look regal, important, ethereal. For that’s what he was. Ethereal. This was their special 'little' brother, the one who equally annoyed them and gave them hope for the world all in one and isn’t that what the best siblings do? Fill you with so many emotions and so much love and hate that they’re the ones that truly make you you, make you human. Klaus had tested them, boy had he tested them, but if asked most of them would want to change something for him, most of them would secretly miss him that little bit more than another sibling. He was an enigma, a constant presence and reminder of life and the struggles that come with it. His appearance would usually mean trouble, pain, misery, but in the end he would sweep through their lives and leave the reminder of love, the reminder of what is precious and important.

Luther swallowed the lump in his throat as Five became the first to truly move, jumping from beside them, reappearing by Klaus’ side and immediately falling to his knees. In that moment, he truly looked 13. Just an innocent kid staring down at his dead brother. _Their_ dead brother. It’s enough to spur them all on and they race down the stairs to fall into place. They crowd the scene with varying looks of dismay and hope on their faces- maybe he’d survived? Maybe it was just a head injury? But even if it was 'only' that, it wouldn’t be good news for their brother.

Diego is the one to touch him, to place his fingers on the pulse point on his neck and holding for longer than necessary before reluctantly pulling away and punching the floor beneath him.

“No! NO NO NO!” Not a trace of his stutter was evident, just pure misery and rage. Allison tried to grab his arm, stopping him from injuring his hand but he pulls away and gives one last, final punch before roaring into the seemingly endless cavern of their home; the echo bouncing back like some taunting, ghostly yell from beyond. “It was meant to be different this time, better. We were meant to be better, to f-f-fix everything. How is this part of the grand scheme...” Renewed anger filled him as he turned on Five. “...huh Five? Tell me, tell Klaus, how is this part of the grand scheme!?”

“Diego...” Allison warned, trying to placate her warring brother- _always_ trying to placate her warring brothers, damn it! “Klaus wouldn’t want this.”

Even Five scoffed at that, a small smirk of humour on his lips. “He would and you know it! He’d be sat with a bag of chips and cheering from the sideline, siding with whoever was winning.”

They all chuckled, surprisingly, and fell into a longing silence as they remembered their brother in more fonder times.

It was Luther who broke the silence. “I can’t believe he’s...he’s dead. Not like this.”

Apparently anger was Diego’s way of grieving (who knew, right!?) because the venom was back with a vengeance. He turned on his heel to the larger sibling. “Not like this!? How then, Number One? You mean like you expected him to OD? To finally succumb to his vices? To be killed on the streets? Stabbed, mugged, left to die? Or-or maybe something else? His mind finally crumbling like we’ve seen for the last 20 odd years and he does something on p-p-p-purpose...” His voice cracked there, giving in, but he’d already said enough to worry the rest of them. What he’d said, the way he’d said it, seemed almost like he knew, like it was experience or prior knowledge.

“Diego?” Vanya's voice was small but her eyes never left Klaus. How she was controlling herself right now was unbelievable.

Diego sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I, I just had more run ins with him on the streets than any of you did, I was a cop and he was a homeless druggie. And that’s where I’m leaving that conversation.”

 _For now._ Luther thought, because there was no way he was backing out of that kind of information on their brother, not when his life...not when his life might depend on it in future. But that didn’t matter now did it? They didn’t have to know that Klaus may be suicidal or struggling mentally because he wasn’t around to crumble, he wasn’t around for them to help save him. He was dead.

“We,” Luther’s voice was hoarse, as if he’d been screaming along with Diego, and broke when he tried to speak. He cleared his throat and carried on. “We need to move him. Or tell Mom and Pogo.”

Nobody moved.

Nothing made a noise.

Everything was still.

Their brother was dead.

* * *

Ben stood by as his siblings mourned. He hadn’t actually been around to see them mourn his own death- not finding his way back to 'the land of the living' until Klaus sobered up 3 days after the funeral, in a hospital, after a near fatal overdose- but he thought that this was far worse than that could ever have been. He wasn’t watching them mourn for him, he was watching them mourn another sibling, and it felt like dying all over again because Klaus was his anchor, his link to this world and to his old life. Without that, without Klaus, he was just another ghost graced with the torturous fate of being just close enough to touch life but always one step away. He’d hoped to talk to them again, to tell them what he could, would, should have said to them before he died, and to tell them things he knew they needed to hear all these years since. He and Klaus were practicing, perfecting the manifestations and holding the link open enough, they had been getting so close.

And now it was all over. His hopes and dreams were pooled on the floor in Klaus’ blood.

But as he began to withdraw into himself once more, as the hood began to veil his face, he felt a new sensation.

A tickle.

A tug.

It reminded him of times on the street when Klaus had taken too much or when the frigid cold had won the fight. Back then he’d not realised what it was, not until Klaus' trip to the nightclub to save their brother. Ben knew that feeling, but it was only now he started piecing it all together, knowing exactly what it was. What it meant!

“Klaus!” He yelled out, excitement lacing his voice. “Come on bro, come on Klaus!”

Even though he was confident in his assumptions, his voice petered off a little as nerves took over. What if he was wrong? What if it was some other strange feeling connected to his brother? Maybe it was Ben’s own soul fading away?

But before Ben could fall into a complete spiral a noise punctured the silent air like thunder in the night.

Klaus gasped awake;

And head-butt Diego straight on the forehead.

* * *

“Ow! Son of a...” Klaus held his absolutely throbbing head in his hands, completely unaware of the gentle chaos erupting around him.

“Oh hell that hurts! You have no idea...” Diego, who had been mirroring Klaus with his own head in his hands immediately let them drop in favour of staring at his brother- the brother who had just whacked him in the head, the brother who _had_ been dead. “Klaus?”

“Oh Little Girl In The Sky my head’s exploding. How damn hard is your skull Diego? I know we take the piss but there must seriously be some density to that shit because did I mention my head is exploding. I’m like those people from Pompeii who’s blood cooked and blew up their skulls from the inside...” His voice seemed to want to carry rambling on as usual but Klaus stopped in favour of laying the pale skin of his forehead on the tiles.

“It was Herculaneum actually.” Five deadpanned.

Klaus brought his head up, though very carefully and with hooded eyes. “What?”

“It was Herculaneum with the cooked bodies, not Pompeii.”

“Oh fuck off.” Klaus flicked his 'Hello' hand in his brother’s general direction. “Whatever. My head hurts.”

All jokes aside, the siblings were a little worried at how nonchalant Klaus was being right now. It was Allison who finally broke the spell. “Klaus. How? How are you alive? How are you talking? How...? Are you ok!?”

Their brother didn’t seem to have his full attention on them at that moment but his head was turned slightly to a space where no sibling occupied- or, at least, no living sibling. Ben must have said something surprising as Klaus suddenly let his head fall back down onto the floor with a gentle bump. “Shit. I died?”

He then turned his head back to look at the space he had once lain, where the curtain was still crumpled and the blood still sat. “Christ that’s a lot of blood.” The voice was quiet and solemn now and not like their loud 'little' brother. Klaus' energy had seemed to dwindle pretty quickly once the revelation had come to light and his adrenaline rush had worn off.

Diego almost crawled to his brother’s side and pulled his limp form into his embrace. “How?” His voice was muffled as his lips perched in the curls of Klaus’ hair.

“I think I’m a little bit immortal?” The voice was quiet but he was able to add a little 'Klaus charm' to it, maybe to stave off the morbid and shocking implications.

“I’m sorry. What!?” Five was already calculating in his mind, it was plain for everyone to see.

Klaus shrugged but his body was melding deeper and deeper into Diego’s embrace, his energy almost spent. “Died a few times. Come back. Last time a little girl told me she didn’t like me. Can’t say I disagree...” By the end, he was practically falling asleep as he spoke.

Vanya shot forward and held one of his hands. “Maybe we shouldn’t let him sleep. What if he’s still concussed or there’s some damage? Hey, Klaus. Klaus wake up.”

Their brother’s already mumbled voice muffled even more into Diego’s clothes and only 'head' could be heard properly. But as he grumbled and as the siblings calmed both themselves and the ex dead person down, Five jumped away, returning a few seconds later.

“Mom and Pogo are on their way. They heard the commotion anyway but were waiting for the all clear.”

True to word, a few moments later they could hear the clack on Mom’s heels and Pogo's cane. Diego let out a breath and felt his shoulders drop a little.

Grace bent down swiftly and began running her eyes and hands over Klaus. “Now, what have you gotten yourself into this time young man. I thought we had this discussion about not playing on the staircase.”

“S’ry. W'sn't m' f'lt.”

Vanya sat forward, one of her hands still on Klaus’ arm, rubbing nervously. “See, he’s got slurred speech.”

“Vanya, he slurs his words half the time anyway.” Luther deadpanned, earning a swat from Allison. But Klaus laughed drunkenly as if the comment didn’t bother him.

“Mmhmm.”

“Klaus darling, I can’t check you when you keep moving your head and those pretty little eyes of yours, now can I!?”

Diego snorted but moved one of his hands to keep Klaus’ head a little more stable. “Yeah, keep those pretty little eyes of yours forward.”

Klaus made some noise that could have been 'shutup'.

Grace sat back and nodded her head. “It seems he’s just dazed and a little exhausted.”

“That’s it!? Dazed? Mom, he smashed his head on the floor! There’s...I don’t even want to guess how many pints of blood painting the tiles. _His_ blood! He died!”

It was Allison who spoke but the rest of the group murmured their agreement.

“I can see traces of blood loss and head injury but it is as if he’s in the final stages of recovery.” Sometimes it was creepy how cheerful Grace was when she was giving bad news or serious medical talk.

Klaus sat up a little straighter in Diego’s arms, his eyes staring at another empty space. “Sometimes I come back healed. Sometimes only a little bit healed. Or so Ben theorizeseses... Thesorizes..theee...”

“Theorizes.” Five supplied.

“That one!”

“Ok, can you expand on Ben’s theory for us Klaus?”

“Hmm.” He broke off, humming and thinking, before giving a definitive, “No.”

“Give him time guys, he’ll explain later when he’s more aware. Won’t you, Klaus!” What had started as a protective brother line from Diego quickly turned into a promised threat of truth.

“So he’s ok to sleep then Mom?” Vanya was still rubbing Klaus’ arm, but whether it was for his comfort or her own Diego wasn’t certain.

“He is.”

They didn’t waste a second before Diego and Luther were helping him to his feet and were stumbling as a group up the stairs to his room with Five watching with an expressionless face. After depositing him on his bed they left it to the girls to tuck him in and make sure he was ok before leaving one by one with well wishes, half hearted jokes or jibes.

* * *

Five was the last (living sibling) to leave, making sure he was alone as he bent down so he was next to Klaus’ ear. “Don’t die on me again.”

There was no threat or heat behind the words, only a soft nod toward stronger feelings that Five would never admit to.

Behind him, unbeknownst to the smaller brother, Ben smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Touch wood it wasn't too terrible. My mind just isn't working right anymore but I still want to produce stuff, it's a vicious ravine I'm in.  
> Thanks for reading. Hope you're all keeping well, stay safe gorgeous people. <3
> 
> (One of the first articles to pull me into my love of History was in a DK magazine when I was about 8, it was a two page spread on Pompeii and Vesuvius. It's truly what got me into history. And in later years I read the intriguing story of the archaeological finds from the 80s in Herculaneum. It fascinated me just as much and it was like full circle back to what piqued my love in the first place. I won't go into it too much here, 1) I don't want to spoil anyone interested, go research it yourself and 2) it is a bit gory so I'll leave it to you guys to look into it if you wish. But basically, the people tried to outrun an ash cloud between 400-900 degrees and hid in stone boathouses...it didn't end well. It is just a theory but works off evidence found by historians & scientists during the excavations. Anyway, sorry, I got geeky.)


End file.
